BOOK: Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler

Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler

young adult challenge

I couldn't resist borrowing this title from the library. Mara is a straight-A student, A type personality, whose life is turned upside down when her free spirited niece gets dumped at her house for the rest of her senior year. Mara has always done what her parents want and this change in her life correlates with beginning to question what decisions she has made for herself. And naturally, a cute boy causes upheaval in Mara's well planned life.

This was another great book by Mackler, tackling issues of parental expectations, questioning motivations, and the changes that happen at the end of high school. I particularly liked the cell phone issue, as Mara's parents call her all the time, and her them, until it begins to intrude on Mara's space as she realizes the phone is like an umbilical cord between them. Personally, I feel that one of the biggest problems with cell phones at high school are the parents calling their kids. Everything is an emergency. I sound like a Luddite, but I survived growing up without being in constant contact with my parents, and there is a big shift happening in society today.

I'll leave this with a very funny part of the book, because it is completely true. During the week of final exams, the students are not concerned with marks anymore because everything has been decided, and the "only five subjects that seniors were concentrating on:

1. The prom, in the broad sense, like who's going with whom and where people bought their dresses.

2. the prom, in the narrow sense, like who's going with whom but is really hoping to hook up with a different whom.

3. Partying before the prom.

4. Partying after the prom.

5. Graduation parties and other reasons to drink this summer."

It's funny because it's true.